Guerrilla attacks kill three US soldiers

Insurgents have killed three US soldiers in separate attacks in Iraq, the American military said today, and a top commander warned that guerrilla assaults were growing more sophisticated.

A military spokeswoman in Baghdad said two soldiers were killed and three wounded just south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday when a bomb was detonated as their patrol drove past.

At a US base near Balad, about 80km north of Baghdad, one soldier was killed and two were wounded late yesterday in a mortar attack, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division said in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

"The base came under mortar attack and one soldier was killed by shrapnel, while two others were wounded," Sergeant Robert Cargie told reporters.

He said six people had been detained in connection with the assault. The two wounded soldiers, who were taken to a nearby field hospital, were in a stable condition.

The attacks brought to 331 the number of US soldiers killed in action since the start of the war in Iraq.

News of the attacks came a day after guerrillas shot down an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter outside the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. It was the sixth US helicopter to be brought down by Iraqi insurgents since October.

A policeman who witnessed the crash said the helicopter was hit by a missile before falling to the ground. One pilot was killed and the other wounded. It was the first time a Kiowa, a nimble craft used for observation, had been shot down in Iraq.

US forces quickly surrounded the crash site to keep witnesses and journalists at bay.

American soldiers detained three Iraqis working for Reuters as they covered the aftermath of the crash. A Reuters driver working with the three said they had earlier been fired on by US troops as they filmed a checkpoint close to the site.

US Army spokesman Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt separately told a news conference in Baghdad that guerrillas posing as journalists had fired on US soldiers guarding the area and four were later detained.

Kimmitt also said the number of guerrilla attacks was falling but warned they were getting more sophisticated.

He pointed to the New Year's Eve car bombing of a smart restaurant in central Baghdad, which killed eight people and wounded around 30 others, saying it was the first attack of its kind on a purely civilian target.

"We are seeing a small uptick in the capability of the enemy. They are getting a little more complex," Kimmitt said.

"For what reason, we don't know, but they are getting a little more sophisticated of late."

As part of operation Iron Grip, an ongoing effort to root out suspected insurgents hiding out in Baghdad, the 1st Armoured Division used AC-130s and A-10 "Warthog" planes to bombard positions to the south of the city late into last night.

The sound of artillery, mortar bombs and fighter plane machineguns rattled over the capital for several hours, but the military would provide no details on the operation's results.

The bombardment followed a raid by US and Iraqi forces on a Baghdad mosque that the US military suspected of being a hub for criminal and "terrorist" activity.

A US military spokesman said explosives, detonators, hand grenades, assault rifles and rocket manuals were seized in the Thursday operation, and 32 suspects were detained.

The raid provoked an angry reaction from worshippers at the Sunni shrine, who gathered after Friday prayers to denounce the US-occupation, chanting "Down with America". They also accused US troops of damaging the Koran on display in the mosque.